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Editorial
The month of June marks the halfway point in the year. For Rutgers WPF, Pakistan, it translates into a time for reflect on what has been accomplished so far this year and a time to rejuvenate ourselves, eliminate our shortcomings for the coming six months. Rutgers WPF, Pakistan biannual meeting took place this month which gave every programme and department the opportunity to analyze their progress and identify the areas that require improvement.
This June also brought a whole host of new activities which you will read about throughout this newsletter. The Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation team visited the districts of Karachi, Matiari and Multan to carry out evaluation of various project activities. Meanwhile the Knowledge Management team travelled to Karachi and Matiari to orient the partners on the online SRHR Violation Reporting Tool and we-based M&E system and SRHR team conducted training in Mithi. A number of staff members also took part in conferences and meetings, both within and outside Pakistan.
To find out about all of these activities and more, read on! |
Newsletter Team |
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Important Links |
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RutgersWPF Headquarter News |
Award for Excellence & Innovation in Sexuality Education 2011
Rutgers WPF was presented the Award for Excellence & Innovation in Sexuality Education 2011, on June 12, 2011. The award was announced during the opening ceremony of the 20th World Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS), in Glasgow. Rutgers WPF has been granted the prize because of its strong and comprehensive programmes in the area of sexual and relational education and the groundbreaking work it has achieved in supporting organisations in developing countries.
Rutgers WPF was the winner in the category of non-governmental organisations. According to the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) Rutgers WPF excelled in all the criteria considered, including: relevance of programme to target group(s) and social context; evidence of evaluation and results; use of innovative concepts; relevance of methodology and materials used to target groups.
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RutgersWPF Pakistan News |
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Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation |
Six-Monthly Review and Planning Meeting
The PME department organised the 6-monthly review and planning meeting of the staff of Rutgers WPF, held on June 30, 2011. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) was revisited and adjusted project wise. The reviews of last semester comprising of Jan-June, 2011 were held individually with every department and operational team, where the WBS was revised and updated based on the principle of progress versus targets. The reasons for delays and postponement of activities in every project were thoroughly discussed. Every department gave a presentation in which their respective projects’ major achievements, challenges and lesson learned were shared. The 6-monthly review & planning meeting provided opportunity for the management teams to develop and adopt proactive strategies for achieving set targets in the coming semesters.
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Mid Term Evaluation
The project ‘Hamara kal’ envisaged a mid-term evaluation (MTE) in year 2011 to gauge the effectiveness of the project vis-à-vis its LFA approved by the EU. The specific objective was to provide participatory evaluation of the process and outputs of the project. The evaluation also covered organizational learning and change processes set-up within Rutgers WPF and its implementing partners and to highlight the opportunities and modifications in the project.
The MTE team comprised of Manager PME and Managers M&E of the three implementing partners. The Manager PME visited all three project districts and held review meetings with Implementing Partners’ (IPs), project teams, District Project Steering Committees (DPSCs), and schools. The interim findings of the mid-term evaluation will be shared with the forthcoming National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) meeting in July 2011.
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Partnerships & Sustainability |
Rights-driven Institutionalization of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Pakistan-Hamara Kal |
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Media Mobilisation Strategy
A comprehensive media mobilization strategy was designed in consultation with the media consultant engaged by Rutgers WPF, Mr. Masud Alam. Part of active engagement with media requires that all the members of Rutgers WPF should be able to engage with media.
Accordingly, a day long media mobilization workshop for Rutgers WPF staff was arranged on July 4, 2011 at Rutgers WPF, Islamabad Office. The aim was to orient Rutgers WPF staff members on how to interact and engage with media amicably. It was an interactive session where various topics were discussed: the perception of Pakistani media, how the media works, limitations of the media, and most importantly how to answer media queries effectively and how to establish positive and balanced relationships with media persons. During the next month, Rutgers WPF will arrange similar workshops to orient staff members of Partner organizations on effective media dealing in Matiari/Hyderabad, Karachi, Multan & Gujranwala.
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Empowering Girls – Transforming Communities |
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Visits by new Team
The new Rutgers WPF team that took charge of the EGTC undertook a visit to BARGAD (Gujranwala) on July 02, 2011. The purpose was to monitor, review and then plan accordingly, all project related activities.
There has been some resistance in Gujranwala with regards to the teaching of EGTC workbooks. However, 15 girls’ schools have completed the entire LSB workbooks. Mr. Nabeel Awan DCO Gujranwala showed his full support to Rutgers WPF and Bargad on this issue. He also gave valuable insight and advice on how to proceed further with the project. After the summer breaks, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan, facilitated by Bargad, will continue the Economic Empowerment curriculum with adolescent girls who have already completed LSB workbooks in their schools.
In order to successfully diffuse the resistances faced by the EGTC project a number of strategies have been formulated. The EGTC programme and Girls Empowerment Toolkit will be relaunched with greater focus on economic empowerment. To improve community relationship, Rutgers WPF and Bargad will arrange a seminar for the community and adolescent girls to highlight Islamic perspective of girls’ role in economic development. Adolescent Girls Summit on International Youth Day, Aug 12, 2011 will be organised to promote the theme of girls’ leadership and their role in community development in which 250 adolescent girls from LSB schools will be chosen to participate. Rutgers WPF will make efforts to seek MoU with Punjab Government. The Country Representative, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan will also meet with Ms. Ambreen (Punjab Education Foundation) to highlight the significance and work of the EGTC programme.
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Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Education |
Training of Social Officers Child Protection (SOCPs)
SRHR Programme conducted training of Social Officers Child Protection (SOCPs) of Thardeep Rural Support Programme (TRDP) on Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) for Non Formal School System in collaboration with Save the Children from 6th to 10th June, 2011 in Mithi, Sindh.
The objectives of the training were to: sensitize SOCPs on Life Skills Based Education; equip SOCPs with skills to train teachers on LSBE; inculcate the right attitude to train teachers on LSBE and; develop an action plan of the teachers training and implementation in schools.
The participants included SOCPs, senior teachers and various coordinators, officers and M & E staff of TRDP. In total there were 25 participants in the trainings including 8 females. Cumulatively, they represented 5 districts namely Mithi, Jamshoro, Dadu, Umerkot and Tharparkar.
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Country Representative’s visit to Headquarters, Netherlands
The Country Representative, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan, visited the Headquarters from 20th to 24th June, 2011. The CR had detailed meetings with the Headquarters’ team and relevant staff on ‘United for Body Rights’ (UFBR) and ‘Dance for Life’ (D4L) programmes. It was agreed that Ms. Teun Visser will be the Country Lead for UFBR Pakistan. It was also settled that PARWAN will be local name of UFBR. Planning workshops will be conducted 15th to 18th August, 2011, in which the technical team from Headquarters will also participate. D4L will be launched in private schools in Multan and Quetta for students aged 15-16 years. D4L programmes for the private schools of Islamabad and Lahore will be funded through National Post Lottery and will engage National Aids Control Programme and relevant Provincial Aids Control Programme.
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Knowledge Management |
Training on MER framework
For any effectual project implementation, it is integral that consistent monitoring and evaluation is carried out. Subsequently, to improve the existing framework of Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting (MER) for effective reporting on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights violation cases that are occurring in the targeted districts of ‘Hamara Kal’ project, Rutgers WPF has finalized an effective web-based SRHR Monitoring and Reporting system. The partner organizations will be monitoring the SRHR violations in their respective districts and will document the cases through this system for providing immediate assistance, raising public awareness on SRH rights and advocating for SRHR with policy makers.
The KM team oriented the partners on the newly developed online SRHR Violation Reporting Tool which serves to monitor all the reported cases of SRHR violation through one day training workshops in Matiari and Karachi on Jun 15-16, 2011. KM team explained the importance of this tool, how to use it, how to enter data into the online version and the benefits of this system.
The established online version of Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) will generate reports on SRHR violations annually.
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Web Based M&E training
 The KM team of Rutgers WPF held reorientation of the Implementing Partners (IPs) on the web based M&E System through one day training workshops in Matiari and Karachi on Jun 15, 16, respectively and in Multan on May 26, 2011. The training was conducted with the express purpose of developing the understanding of the participants on upgraded version of web based M&E system; and to gather feedback on the existing system.
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Policy Advocacy |
Policy Briefs
Rutgers WPF has developed two policy briefs for SRH education and youth friendly services to be used as reference documents while having advocacy meetings with the government officials. ‘Investing in LSBE is a solution towards the sustainable human development’ is a policy brief that explores the possible strategies for the provision of LSBE at school level. The aim of this brief is to bring the issue of LSBE at the Policy level which is guaranteed under International agreements and has been reiterated by the National Education Policy 2009 National Youth Policy 2009. The Policy Brief also highlighted the benefits of life skills-based education and how the field of life skills-based education can serve as an indirect tool for empowerment for adolescents and young people.
The Policy Brief on ‘Youth friendly health services’ explores the possible strategies for the provision of youth friendly health services at the national and provincial level which has been reinforced through the ICPD Plan of Action. This policy is also guaranteed under International agreements and has been reiterated by the National Youth Policy 2008 under Youth Health section. Investment in Youth Friendly Health Services would be a solution to lessen the burden of disease from Pakistan.
To galvanize the process of policy reforms in the respective districts, Rutgers WPF and its Partners are now planning to organize a joint meeting of district management bodies (DCO, Health and Education) and DPSC in the coming quarter. The purpose is to divide the DPSC into two specialized groups: one group will focus on the provision of health services, while the other group will be exclusively concerned with LSBE.
- Policy Brief on Youth Friendly Servcies
- Policy Brief on LSBE
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Meeting of Men Engage Alliance Pakistan
The bi- annual meeting of the ‘Men Engage Alliance Pakistan’ took place on June 16, 2011. Ms. Nazoora Ali, Programme Manager, Policy Advocacy participated in the meeting and updated the participants on the regional alliance meeting held in Dhaka. The participants showed eagerness to be part of the regional alliance joint initiatives in the coming months with regard to research, capacity building and advocacy. All the participants unanimously chose ‘Amal’ as the new secretariat of the Alliance. The participants appreciated Rozan’s role as the secretariat of the Alliance.
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Institutional Strengthening |
Organizational Effectiveness
Rutgers WPF, Pakistan drafted a Strategic and Operational Plan for 2012- 2116 in collaboration with RIZ Consulting. The first draft was reviewed by the Management team and has now been sent Headquarters for feedback. The next draft is expected by August 4, 2011.
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International Exposure |
20th WAS Congress
The World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) Congress, which is held every two years, is a platform where experts in the various field related to sexual health, including policy makers, activists, educators and researchers, come together. The 20th WAS Congress was held in Glasgow from June 12-16, 2011. The Country Representative, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan gave a speech and delivered two presentations at the Congress on 14th and 15th June.
The CR, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan, gave a presentation on ‘Learning the Art of: Assessing and Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People in Muslim Society’. The presentation centered on the ‘Rights Driven Institutionalization of SRHR in Pakistan - Hamara Kal’ project. The CR emphasized the importance of this project because it not only marks the starting point for future research on SRHR issue in Pakistan but also because it provides valuable information for advocacy and programme development for WPF as well as other organizations.
The second presentation presented by the CR was titled “Meeting Education and Sexual Health Needs of Young People”- A Case Study from Pakistan. He enlightened the audience with regards to the LSBE programme: the details of the project such as the outreach of LSBE in Pakistan, the contents of LSBE were also shared. The findings of the project evaluation were discussed in detail, ranging from efficiency, effectiveness to the impact of LSBE in Pakistan. The achievements of the project were highlighted including: personality development of adolescent students; professional development of teachers; inclusion of LSBE into national education policy 2009; and the process of integrating LSBE into national curriculum have been started by the government.
Both the presentations were well received and appreciated by the participants.
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World Health Organization (WHO) Workshop
WHO organised a workshop on ‘Gender and Health Strategy’ on 9-10 June, 2011, in Bhurbhan, which was attended by the CR, Rutgers WPF, Pakistan. The organizers requested the participants to provide feedback on the document produced by WHO. The recommendations furnished by the CR, Rutger WPF, Pakistan included: 18th amendment and its implication for the health sector needs to discussed in the document; the document should use the word transgender along with men and women; deliveries by unskilled midwives, an important factor for the maternal death, must be discussed; many issues prevalent under Gender based violence need to be discussed individually along with the need of an affective mechanism. The feedback provided will be incorporated in the report of the workshop, which is currently being drafted by WHO.
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Expressions |
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Kids available for abuse
By Masud Alam
The lead story in my regular newspaper recently was a toss up between two single column reports buried in the inside pages. One was about the arrest of a seminary teacher in Peshawar on the charge of sodomising a three-year-old boy, and a couple of pages down, the other reported how a six years old boy was raped and killed near Nawabshah.
And the story, adjudged lead by the editors on that particular day, and therefore deserving of prime space on the front page was: ‘Discord persists over unilateral strikes, says FO’. No need to elaborate on the content of this story, especially when the ‘discord’ is between the reigning superpower and its pesky vassal state, and the source of information is Pakistan’s Foreign Office, that on its own can’t tell the mouth of a berry from its anus, as they say in older parts of Sialkot.
Now teleport yourself to UK and open your morning paper again. Both the insignificant crime reports, filed by the lowly ‘district reporters’ are spread all over the front page. Pick up another paper, and another … the difference is only in the amount of coverage, but for all of them there is no story bigger than one child rape incident anywhere in the country. A whole nation is shown as one in sympathy for the survivors and their families, and in their wish for the culprit -- the filthiest of all criminals -- to be locked up for the rest of their natural lives. And the day, two child rape stories break -- with one child getting murdered -- the British media will have nothing else to talk about for several days, and the entire police force will have nothing else to do but hunt down the perpetrators.
Come back to this sick place. It’s been four days since the two stories broke. Many papers did not find them newsworthy enough to waste even a few inches of the cheapest newsprint. My paper that did carry the original news, did not bother to follow up. TV talk show hosts, who are usually the last to hear a news and therefore can only gather enough information to do a programme late in the night, haven’t touched the subject.
If the media is a true reflection of the society, then here is a society that finds its children getting raped nothing but a matter of routine. Given this collective indifference -- or encouragement? – is it too outlandish a guess that between Peshawar in the north and Nawabshah in the south, dozens of children are raped every day, and thousands are molested, harassed, or abused in other ways? Ask a social worker and hear the derisive laugh at the underestimation. But we need not do anything about it because it only happens to others. It won’t happen to my kids. God forbid. May God protect them from evil eye.
But … warns the wagging finger, we mustn’t talk about child abuse in public, let alone admit that it exists in our society. After all, a majority of molestation, even rape, is handed down by trusted adults and close relatives. We want to keep it in the family, don’t we now? And then we are Muslims, a ghairat mand people. We can’t let the world see our perversities. If your child has been a victim, be thankful to God if he is still alive, and be proud if he’s killed in the violent act because then he’s a shaheed. But either way, don’t compound your woes by going after the abusers. It will only bring shame to all Pakistanis.
So every one keeps quiet, including the big mouth media. We don’t even tell our children how they may avoid the beasts or protect themselves from their paws. So the beasts go about trampling the innocence of our children with assured immunity.
Some foreign donors have thrown money at local NGOs to impart Life Skills Based Education in a very limited number of schools. The workbooks teach children to be confident, to be able to make decisions, to know and respect their bodies, and to resist temptation and protect themselves against disease and abuse. This intervention is so offensive that a section of the media finally swings into action.
Two Karachi-based Urdu language newspapers that are mouthpieces for the right wing parties, cry out: Foreign money to spoil our young minds with ‘sex education’. This campaign has been on for several months now. Their message is very clear: We like our children to be ignorant, pliant and submissive because it makes it that much easier to sexually abuse them, and get away with it. And anyone who tries to make our kids smarter will be abused too.
Published in The News, May 29, 2011.
For online edition visit the link: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2011-weekly/nos-29-05-2011/dia.htm#3
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As of 1 January 2011, Rutgers Nisso Groep and World Population Foundation (WPF) have merged under the new name Rutgers WPF.
By joining forces we can continue to dedicate ourselves to people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, both in the Netherlands and abroad. For every human being, regardless of gender, (cultural) background or sexual orientation.
For more details visit www.rutgerswpfpak.org
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